May 28, 2018 (The
Associated Press) Sweden is distributing an updated version of a Cold War-era
civil emergency advice booklet to some 4.8 million households about what to do
in the event of a crisis, including war.
The 20-page brochure "If Crisis or War Comes" is about getting
the country "better prepared" if public services have been
debilitated by accidents, severe weather, IT attacks or "in the worst-case
scenario, war," the Civil Contingencies Agency said.
The brochure is a reflection of Stockholm's concerns over a worsened
security situation in the Baltic Sea region over the past few years. Russia has
increased military operations there since it annexed the Crimea peninsula from
Ukraine in 2014.
"It is
important in the light of the deterioration in the security situation in the
rest of the world," the agency said in a statement issued Monday.
According to the brochure, Sweden's population, which totals 10 million,
has a duty to act if the country is threatened.
"If Sweden is attacked by another country, we will never give
up," according to the pamphlet that will be distributed during the May
28-June 3 Emergency Preparedness Week.
"All information to the effect that resistance is to cease is
false."
It includes information about what an emergency box should contain —
canned food, pasta and dried food — and is urging people to hold cash should
money machines not work and emergency telephone numbers.
The agency said Sweden is safer than many other countries but was aware
the brochure may raise "questions and some concerns."
It added that staff fluent in nine different languages will be at hand
until June 29 for questions by telephone or online. The document will also be
available for download in Swedish, English and more than a dozen languages.
The first edition of the "If War Comes" booklet was published
during World War II and information was published in telephone books.
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